US 12,213,530 B2
Smoking substitute apparatus
Benjamin Illidge, Liverpool (GB); Huanghai Lu, Liverpool (GB); Benjamin Astbury, Liverpool (GB); and Nikhil Aggarwal, Liverpool (GB)
Assigned to Imperial Tobacco Limited, Bristol (GB)
Filed by Imperial Tobacco Limited, Bristol (GB)
Filed on Mar. 16, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/696,414.
Application 17/696,414 is a continuation of application No. PCT/EP2020/076268, filed on Sep. 21, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 19198534 (EP), filed on Sep. 20, 2019; application No. 19198555 (EP), filed on Sep. 20, 2019; and application No. 19198574 (EP), filed on Sep. 20, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0202098 A1, Jun. 30, 2022
Int. Cl. A24F 40/485 (2020.01); A24F 40/10 (2020.01)
CPC A24F 40/485 (2020.01) [A24F 40/10 (2020.01)] 12 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A smoking substitute apparatus for generating an aerosol, comprising:
a housing;
an air inlet and an outlet formed at the housing;
a passage extending between the air inlet and outlet, air flowing in use along the passage for inhalation by a user drawing air through the apparatus; and
an aerosol generation chamber containing an aerosol generator being operable to generate an aerosol from an aerosol precursor; wherein the aerosol generator is in fluid communication with a downstream portion of the passage for allowing the aerosol to entrain into an air flow along the passage;
wherein the downstream portion of the passage comprises a flow converging section having a curved sidewall tapered towards the outlet, and wherein an upstream end of the flow converging section substantially conforms to a cross sectional profile of the aerosol generation chamber, and
wherein the curved sidewall of the flow converging section comprises a sigmoidal profile along a longitudinal axis of the downstream portion of the passage.